Sencoretech’s listing plan is litmus test for Korean IPO market

Attention is centered on what is poised to become the only initial public offering deal in April, as investors are hinging on a change in market tides. Starting Monday, Sencoretech -- a Seoul-based engineering firm dedicated to manufacturing steel structure -- will go on a two-day institutional investor tranche to confirm the IPO price, estimated to be at least 27.16 billion won ($22.35 million). Samsung Securities is a lead underwriter for the IPO on the development bourse Kosdaq. This comes

April 10, 2020

VIG Partners to acquire funeral service firm

South Korea’s midcap buyout fund VIG Partners said Friday it plans to acquire the nation’s leading funeral service firm Preedlife. While neither the acquisition price nor the amount of stake were disclosed, the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2020. This comes amid the private equity firm’s move to carry out a bolt-on strategy, under which its existing portfolio firms Jounlife and Preedlife will be combined to become the biggest funeral goods and servi

April 10, 2020

Seoul stocks down late Friday morning

South Korean shares traded lower late Friday morning as investors attempted to cash in recent gains amid a lack of upside momentum. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 9.52 points, or 0.52 percent, to 1,826.69 as of 11:15 a.m. The main index opened higher, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street on the back of the United States' latest stimulus effort meant to minimize the economic fallout from the new coronavirus. US stocks rose after the US Federal Reserve unveiled program

April 10, 2020

Shinhan Card launches facial recognition payment system

Shinhan Card said Thursday it has launched a facial recognition-based payment system that replaces the use of plastic cards for purchases. Branded as Shinhan Face Pay, the new payment system is the first service of its kind here, the local credit card issuer said. To authorize payment, customers take a photo of their faces and a kiosk then matches their facial information with the one registered in advance at Shinhan Bank’s local branches. “As long as customers register their ph

April 10, 2020

Foreign banks report 11.8% rise in assets

The South Korean branches of foreign banks held a combined 305.2 trillion won ($250.9 billion) in assets last year, 11.8 percent increase from the previous year, mainly due to derivative products and securities, latest data showed Thursday. The increase was mainly attributable to their derivative product assets which rose by 14.3 trillion won, according to the Financial Supervisory Service in its report on 36 foreign banks here. Their securities and cash and deposits also increased by 7.7 tril

April 9, 2020

Businesses brace for liquidity crisis by selling assets

Facing a looming liquidity crunch due to the coronavirus crisis, South Korean companies have sold off their assets, including real estate and equities, to keep enough cash in their vaults, according to the Korea Exchange on Thursday. From January to April 7, 29 companies sold a combined 1.5 trillion won ($1.23 billion) worth of tangible assets, compared to 481.6 billion won worth assets sold by 18 companies during the same period last year, the bourse operator said. Most of the asset sales we

April 9, 2020

Seoul stocks hike 1.6% on eased coronavirus woes

South Korean stocks rose more than 1 percent on Thursday on hopes that coronavirus infections around the globe are nearing a peak. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 29.07 points, or 1.61 percent, to 1,836.21. The main index tracked overnight gains on Wall Street. US stocks soared amid the possibility that the coronavirus death toll and infections in the United States could peak this week, Huh Jae-hwan, a strategist at Eugen

April 9, 2020

Togo Comm. to hire new employees through online interviews

Togo Communication, a local PR agency based in Seoul, will hire new employees by conducting video interviews online as part of efforts to participate in nationwide campaign to contain COVID-19 virus, the company said Thursday. The agency will continue so-called “untact” job interviews with applicants for internships and accountant executive posts, until the government declares an end of the pandemic. “Even though we face the danger of COVID-19, we decided to conduct untact j

April 9, 2020

Seoul shares open higher on Wall Street gains

South Korean shares opened higher Thursday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street amid optimism that coronavirus infections around the globe are nearing a peak. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 29.59 points, or 1.64 percent, to 1,836.73 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The main index tracked overnight gains on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 3.4 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 2.6 percent. US stocks soared amid the

April 9, 2020

Brokerages on alert as overseas real estate investments suffer losses

South Korean brokerages are on high alert as funds related to foreign real estate -- and their direct investment in property ownership abroad -- are likely to suffer losses in the novel coronavirus pandemic situation, according to industry sources on Wednesday. As the current crisis sends property values tumbling with market chaos in major countries, the S&P Global REIT index plummeted 31.87 percent from the beginning of the year to Monday, while the S&P 500 plunged 17.55 percent in th

April 8, 2020

Individual investors bet on oil price recovery

With oil prices sinking, individual investors in South Korea are increasingly opting for investments linked to oil prices, according to the Korea Exchange on Wednesday. The stock market operator noted that the combined value of 10 oil-linked exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded notes that individuals bought last month jumped more than ninefold from the previous month to reach 1.42 trillion won ($1.16 billion). Kodex WTI Crude Oil Futures ETFs, in particular, attracted 421.4 billion wo

April 8, 2020

Seoul stocks snap 4-day winning streak amid virus woes

South Korean stocks snapped a four-day rally to end slightly lower Wednesday as foreign and institutional investors offloaded large-cap stocks amid a lack of upside momentum. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 16.46 points, or 0.90 percent, to 1,807.14. Foreign and institutional investors sold a combined 422.2 billion won ($346 million) worth of stocks, weighing down the bourse. Foreigners continued to offload local stocks f

April 8, 2020

Mirae Asset strives for balanced growth in global push

Mirae Asset Financial Group said Tuesday it had topped the 1 trillion won ($820.48 million) mark in the group‘s combined operating profit, net profit and earnings before tax each, quoting its 2019 earnings statement. The South Korean group’s key affiliates, including brokerage Mirae Asset Daewoo, asset management firm Mirae Asset Global Investments, insurer Mirae Asset Life Insurance, nonbanking lender Mirae Asset Capital and Mirae Asset Consulting, recorded a combined 1.16 trillio

April 8, 2020

Hotel Shilla closes $121m deal to buy stake in 3Sixty Duty Free

Hotel Shilla, a South Korean operator of luxury hotels and duty-free shops, has closed a $121 million transaction to buy a 44 percent stake in US duty-free shop operator Travel Retail Group Holdings, known for the in-flight retailing service 3Sixty Duty Free, a filing showed Wednesday. The deal, closed Tuesday, allowed the hotel and duty-free unit under Samsung to become the second-largest shareholder after 3Sixty Chairman Bernard Klepach. It marks Hotel Shilla’s first investment in a No

April 8, 2020

Coronavirus-hit small biz owners rush to nonbanking lenders

Small business owners have increasingly turned to nonbanking lending despite the higher-interest loans to withstand the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. According to the Korea Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives, a mutual financial institution, its banks extended emergency rescue loans worth 15.5 billion won ($12.67 million) to coronavirus-hit small business owners without credit ratings between March 11 and Friday. The demand for loans from KFCC

April 8, 2020

Seoul stocks open lower on US losses

Seoul stocks opened lower Wednesday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street amid woes over the new coronavirus. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 15.95 points, or 0.87 percent, to 1,807.65 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The main index jumped 8.2 percent in the past four sessions, helped by signs of the COVID-19 outbreak slowing. But analysts said investors remain cautious, as there is still a lot of uncertainty involving the coronavirus outbreak and its im

April 8, 2020

[Market close-up] Market eyes KDB's bail-out plan on coronavirus-hit companies

A number of companies in South Korea, both big and small, are standing on the edge of a cliff due to a liquidity crisis stemming from the ongoing virus pandemic. With dark clouds hovering, the Korea Development Bank, a state-owned development policy bank that finances industrial projects, is bending over backward to prop up Korea Inc., injecting vast amounts of emergency public funds into cash-strapped businesses. The industry is keenly watching the next moves of KDB Chairman Lee Dong-gull,

April 7, 2020

FSS urges retail investors to shun loan stock buying

The Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday cautioned local retail investors to refrain from borrowing money when investing stocks, pointing at the excessive market volatility. In a rare message, the financial regulator noted that the current market condition is somewhat different from the 2008 global financial crisis, stressing that it has become more unpredictable than before. “Some existing investors think that now is the time to purchase undervalued shares, since they have seen e

April 7, 2020

Seoul stocks up for 4th day on hopes for virus slowdown

South Korean stocks ended higher Tuesday, extending their gains to a fourth straight session as investor sentiment improved over signs that the spread of the coronavirus could be slowing. The Korean won sharply rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 31.72 points, or 1.77 percent, to 1,823.60. Huh Jae-hwan, a strategist at Eugene Investment Co., said expectations for the slowing spread of the coronavirus in the United States and Europe pushed u

April 7, 2020

Can Lotte Food’s leveraging plan be litmus test for stimulus package?

South Korea’s food service firm Lotte Food saw a moderate success in raising cash through investment-grade corporate bonds, as a state fund has helped fend off risks from the escalating coronavirus crisis. But analysts said Tuesday Korea is still a tough test bed to check whether the government’s stimulus package can normalize the funding market. On Monday, Lotte Food decided to raise 100 billion won ($81.77 million) after it carried out an institutional investor tranche for its AA

April 7, 2020